Youngstown: Still Branding

Yours truly attended the premiere of Ray "Boom Boom / I Killed a Man in the Ring" Mancini's latest endeavor, "Youngstown: Still Standing," a film chronicling the trials of early Youngstown including plenty of kaboomy cars and mob killings, the whole Jimbo debacle, and the emerging rebirth of the city as a can-do Phoenix from the ashes.

The movie itself could have stood alone as a short documentary about Youngstown Mafia. It was compelling, with plenty of entertaining anecdotes from regular Joes and famous ex-Youngstowners. The greater portion of the film concerned this topic, if not for its exciting stories but also for its huge amount of file footage and photos. The steel mills were also waxed nostalgically upon, with charming retirees adding colorful commentary. Next a pair of denim bellbottoms stomped all over Congress, and then I guess nothing happened for a few years until a bunch of kids started realizing the story of Youngstown not only made a great story, but also A GREAT T-SHIRT.

For the past five or six years, the city has lent itself well for branding by a number of enterprises. It has found its way into fashion, music, art, fiction, and even beer. And why not? It is a symbol of the Everyman: hard-working, laid-back, unpresumptuous, and honest. There are plenty of folks in town who fit this bill. But there are also plenty of people who want to have the effortless honesty and attitude that others have naturally. Taking on the Youngstown brand is a way to instantly earn Rust Belt cred without having to deal with the strife of a long life in the city.

How should we feel about this: Insulted? Flattered? We should be proud that our struggles are an inspiration to others. Those who want to tell our story are helping the rebirth every day with their articles and books and photos and music. But we should not be made a novelty. The Youngstown AK47 t-shirt is clever enough, but it can seem like a novelty when worn by others to either make fun or look tough. I guess that's how Chevrolets/Fords being peed on by Calvin or George Bush must feel when they see t-shirts lampooning them. T-shirts can be such a bitch.

Black humor is used as a way to cope, but what do outsiders have to cope with? They don't deal with the city. The "Murder Capital" brand is amusing, but those who have seen the effect our crime rate has had on the citizens can't explain it to the guy wearing the shirt in another town far away.

The industrial wasteland makes for romantic lyrics, paintings, photography and writing. But when does it stop being art and begin being so-called recession porn?

Young people like the brand too. College kids have been on the North Side for years, coming from their lower-middle/upper-middle class homes to live in houses worth less than their cars. They seem to think living in the city is either a learning experience or an amusing adventure, but to paraphrase some song lyrics, "cause when you lay in your bed at night watching roaches climb the walls, you can call your Dad and he can stop it all."

The city has a wide mix of people as citizens - young and old, well-off and poor - and we are all kinda in it together. The nicest house in town is only a block or two away from some of the worst. This creates a kind of camaraderie, and hopefully prevents making generalizations. Not all successful people in town are naive, and not all working-class people are blue-collar martyrs. Branding can encourage these stereotypes.

A respectable generation has a vested interest in maintaining and preserving neighborhoods and the history, but devote less time to their neighbors and the crime. It's great to have any influx of interest in the city, but people should be aware of all the aspects of the city, good and bad, popular and unpopular, before they brand themselves.

In closing, Rust Belt Brewery makes a hell of a beer. That's a brand I'd represent.

Sing along with the common people,
sing along and it might just get you through,
laugh along with the common people,
laugh along even though they're laughing at you,
and the stupid things that you do.
Because you think that poor is cool.